South African mining union Solidarity has announced that it has come to an agreement with platinum miner Lonmin Platinum over wages.

Solidarity members have accepted the offer, which will see employees receiving a nine per cent wage increase effective from October 1st this year.

The move comes after lengthy negotiations, which had seen Solidarity recently threaten strike action if a deal could not be agreed in the near future.

"We are signing with them today and we are happy that we have reached a satisfactory result," Lonmin spokeswoman Alex Shorland-Ball told Reuters.

However, it seems that Solidarity remains far from happy over the situation at Lonmin and further negotiations into non-wage related matters look to be on the cards.

Solidarity spokesman Reint Dykema said: "The negotiations produced no winner. The Mooinooi area, in which Lonmin's operations are located, suffers a severe housing crisis. This matter was not resolved. The company also failed to come up with an acceptable proposal to tackle skills shortages and skills retention."

Sources:

Solidarity accepts Lonmin's wage offer, 12/12/07
http://www.miningweekly.co.za/article.php?a_id=123471

SAfrica Solidarity union accepts Lonmin wage offer, 12/12/07
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL1220032920071212

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